This invention relates to medical tube assemblies.
The invention is more particularly concerned with medical tube assemblies that can be bent and set to a desired shape.
It is often desirable to be able to bend a medical tube guide to a particular shape, such as, to facilitate introduction of the medical tube. Bendable guides or stylets are presently available including a metal rod encased in a plastic sheath. Guides of a plastics material are also available, such as described in GB2312378. Conventional guides can be bent equally easily in any plane, so that different parts of the guide can be bent in different planes. This can be a disadvantage in some applications, such as where introducing an endotracheal tube, because there is a risk that the guide might be inadvertently bent at an angle away from the path along which the tube is to be introduced. Where using a conventional guide in such an application, care must be taken to ensure that it is only bent in one plane, so that this can be aligned with the path of introduction. There is also a problem with guides that can be bent in more than one plane, in that it increases the risk that the plastic sheath on the guide will be creased or kinked where it is bent. It can also be an advantage, in some cases, to be able to bend the tube itself to a particular shape.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved medical tube assembly.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a medical tube assembly comprising a medical tube and a rod extending within a sheath of a flexible plastics material, the rod being of a different material from the sheath and the rod being bendable to a set bend and being preferentially bendable in one plane.
The rod with the sheath may be removably inserted within the bore of the medical tube as a guide member. The sheath may be of tubular form with a bore extending along its length, the rod extending within the wall of the sheath. The guide member may have a plug inserted in one end of the sheath, the plug having a bore therethrough communicating with the bore through the sheath.
Alternatively, the sheath may be provided by a wall of the medical tube, the rod being embedded in the wall.
The medical tube is preferably an endotracheal tube.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a tracheal tube assembly including a tubular member of a flexible plastics material having a first end for location in the trachea and a second end for location outside the body, the tubular member having an inflatable cuff extending around it towards the first end such that the tubular member can be sealed with the patient""s trachea by inflating the cuff, the assembly including a rod of a different material extending within the wall of said tubular member along its length, and the rod being bendable to a set bend and being preferentially bendable in one plane so that the tracheal tube assembly can be bent to a desired shape.
The rod is preferably of a metal such as zinc-iron alloy, and may be plated with copper. The rod preferably is formed with a series of indentations along opposite sides, the center lines of the indentations lying in the plane. The indentations may be formed by crimping.
Endotracheal tube assemblies according to the present invention, will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.